What Insurance Do Winnipeg Coffee Shops Need?

October 8, 2024

Want to go for coffee? Winnipeg’s coffee shops are meeting places for a cup of joe and conversation. But if you’re the coffee shop owner, you need to be insured for an unexpected event, an accident, or an injury. Coffee shop insurance that’s customized to your needs protects you against potentially costly claims.

Coffee shop or cafe insurance for Winnipeg’s owners of food and drink establishments helps protect against slips and falls, injured customers, damaged customer property, vandalism, and fire.

Whether you are in Winnipeg, Brandon, Steinbach, Portage la Prairie, Dauphin, Thompson, or elsewhere in Manitoba, we’ll give you top-notch insurance advice about coffee shop insurance.

What is coffee shop or cafe insurance?

Cafe and coffee shop insurance is a package of insurance coverages that helps Winnipeg coffee shop owners protect themselves against various risks associated with operating their business. For example, it would help cover a customer’s laptop that was stolen in your cafe.

Who needs coffee shop insurance?

Coffee shops
Donut shops
Sandwich shops/delis
Tea shops
Juice bars

How much does coffee shop insurance cost?

There is no one-size-fits-all price for Winnipeg coffee shop or cafe insurance.

Your cost will depend on factors such as: Location, years of operation, services offered, number of employees, size of your coffee shop, annual revenue, and any past claims.

Here’s how coffee shop insurance can help you as a Winnipeg coffee shop owner:

A kitchen fire forces your Winnipeg cafe to temporarily close for repairs. Business interruption insurance can help cover your payroll, rent, and utilities, for example, during the time it takes to get your kitchen working again.

A customer slips and falls on some spilled coffee, fracturing his wrist and then sues you. Your commercial general liability insurance helps cover their medical expenses and your legal expenses as a Winnipeg coffee shop owner.

Your main fridge breaks down and the food and dairy products in it are spoiled. Equipment breakdown insurance helps cover the cost to repair the fridge and spoiled food and drink.

What’s in a Winnipeg coffee shop insurance package?

Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance: This type of insurance is also called slip-and-fall insurance. If a customer/supplier is injured or their property is damaged at your Winnipeg cafe or coffee shop, CGL typically helps cover your legal expenses and their medical bills, regardless of the legal outcome.

Product liability insurance: This type of insurance covers you for injuries or property damage caused by defective products that you make, sell, or distribute, which would include the food and drinks that you serve. For example, if you sell pre-baked muffins and a customer said the muffin he ate gave him food poisoning and sues you, in this case, product liability insurance may help cover your legal defense costs and the customer’s medical expenses.

Commercial property insurance: Commercial property insurance protects your Winnipeg cafe and the contents in it from insured risks that occur, such as a fire, theft, vandalism, or storms. For example, if your coffee shop is vandalized with spray paint, commercial property damage could help cover the costs of replacing the area with graffiti.

You should consider adding a sewer backup coverage extension, which standard business insurance policies typically don’t cover, to protect your Winnipeg coffee shop.

Cyber insurance: Cyber liability insurance helps protect your business if you electronically store financial data like the credit card numbers of clients. Depending on the size of the breach and the information that was taken, the customers who are affected can hold your Winnipeg business liable and sue for damages.

Equipment breakdown insurance: Equipment breakdown insurance covers the cost of repairing or replacing equipment in your Winnipeg cafe, such as your fridges, and covers rental fees so you can continue working while your equipment is being replaced or repaired.

Legal expense insurance: This type of insurance gives you access to legal advice, assistance, and coverage for legal disputes. As a Winnipeg coffee shop owner, you can expect to get legal advice from a lawyer on a set of common business topics. Legal expense insurance also helps cover the costs of a lawyer to pursue legal action.

What do I do if my Winnipeg coffee shop has an insurance claim?

Contact your broker immediately after any business-related mishap. Waiting to file a claim can confuse insurers about the severity of the damages to your business.
Know your policy so that when you contact your broker you are familiar with what will be covered or not.
Document the damage. Take photos right away and write down what happened.
Do not throw away damaged goods after taking photos. Keep the physical evidence so that your adjustor can see it.
Do not invite lawsuits. Don’t say anything that could be used against you, especially if you aren’t sure what happened.
Be honest about what your damaged property is worth. Damaged commercial property is generally valued according to its actual cash value or replacement value.